A Bristol robotics company has sold one of its drones to a major global renewable investments company for an undisclosed sum.
Perceptual Robotics, a University of Bristol spinout founded in 2016, agreed the deal with EuroEnergy - a subsidiary of Libra Group - which has operating assets in Greece and Romania.
Earlier this year, the Bristol-based tech business carried out wind turbine inspections at EuroEnergy’s site in Greece using its DOT drone and Dhalion system.
EuroEnergy has now bought a Perceptual Robotics’ Dhalion drone to allow it to conduct its own inspections, while receiving analysis and reports from Perceptual Robotics. The Dhalion system is designed to undertake autonomous in-depth turbine inspections, collecting data from turbines in less than 20 minutes and quickly analysing the information.
Theofanis Mermigkousis, chief operating office of EuroEnergy, said Perceptual Robotics had impressed his company by offering a "different type of inspection" for its wind turbines.
He said: “Ensuring we can keep our turbines at maximum output is essential to the success of EuroEnergy. Perceptual Robotics’ Dhalion drone has the benefit of being fully automated while allowing us to track the progress of any damage on our turbines over multiple inspections. This means we can ensure we are maintaining our assets to the best of our ability, cutting costs and increasing safety."
Engineers at EuroEnergy have undergone training with Perceptual Robotics to operate the Dhalion drone, it said.
Kostas Karachalios, chief executive of Perceptual Robotics, said the two companies were now exploring the possibility of using Dhalion to inspect EuroEnergy’s solar sites in the future.
He added: “This is the beginning of a great partnership between EuroEnergy and Perceptual Robotics. We are thrilled they have singled-out Dhalion as their inspection system of choice after experiencing the success of the system for themselves at inspections we carried out this summer. We look forward to strengthening this relationship over time with the possibility of inspecting EuroEnergy’s solar and other assets.”
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